


20

by waddled



Series: 305 and Beyond [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, F/M, Found Families, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Slow(ish) Burn, body image issues, chapters with potentially triggering content will be tagged accordingly, everything i tagged is bad i swear this is mostly fluff, it's the summer tho, kind of, underaged drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 00:35:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30013416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waddled/pseuds/waddled
Summary: Nico has spent the last three years living in New York City, dedicating himself entirely to his band,Mythomagic, and just wants to make it through another summer without everything falling apart.Hazel is looking forward to twenty whole days in Rome with her boyfriend and their closest friends for the Olympic Games, but with an unfortunate shadow unexpectedly cast over Frank's family, that's going to be easier said than done.This fic is very interwoven with the events (both past and present) ofApartment 305, but i've tried to make it as readable on its own as possible. I've also included a recommended reading list of chapters/shorts related to these four if you're curious about certain things as they exist in this universe.
Relationships: Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: 305 and Beyond [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1774453
Comments: 14
Kudos: 64





	20

**Author's Note:**

> Recommended reading before diving in! I will also be including a Hazel/Frank reading list when chapter two rolls around.
> 
> **WILL**  
>  Apartment 305 - [Chapter 35](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/61684261)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 42](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/62451430)  
> Conversations - [M&Ms](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710860/chapters/63058462)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 64](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/64638418)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 84](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66534235)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 86](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66738394)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 89](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66738394)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 90](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/67141543)
> 
> **NICO**  
>  Apartment 305 - [Chapter 24](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/60502723)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 79](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66110428)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 80](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66202519)  
> Conversations - [Pepperoni](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24710860/chapters/66203809)  
> Apartment 305 - [Chapter 87](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225004/chapters/66859129)

“Haze, I know which one you’re talking about, don’t worry,” Nico said into his phone, to his sister, thousands of miles away, and yet still managing to be a massive pain in his ass.

A whine on the other end of the line told him that she was not convinced. “This is just really important, and I know I should have gotten it done myself before we left, but I just lost track of time, and if my professor doesn’t get it today, I’m not going to be included in the exhibit at all. It’s such a big opportunity.”

Nico, who had just jogged up the stairs to the front door of Hazel’s brownstone, stopped to count to three and stare up at the sky in exasperation. She had landed in Rome less than twelve hours before and he was sure she was exhausted, even if her flight had been on a private jet that was nicer than ninety-nine percent of houses. If he snapped at her, she’d probably snap back, they’d fight, and then they’d be mad at each other even though she was on the other side of the planet. Being in a fight with his sister was not an uncommon occurrence, but for some reason he especially hated the idea of doing it while she was in another country.

They weren’t twins, they had different mothers, but Hazel was only a little over a month older than him, so they might as well have been. Even before Marie Levesque had become ill, Hazel had lived with Nico and his parents. His mother, Maria, had insisted Hazel not take the di Angelo name, in compensation for not divorcing Nico’s father for his infidelity. In return, Nico’s father had insisted that Hazel be raised with her siblings on the di Angelo estate in New York, rather than with her mother in New Orleans. So, Nico had shared just about everything with Hazel from the moment he was born.

That was, until Bianca had died.

In all those years, Nico had never blamed Hazel for what happened. He’d always found other outlets for that anger – like Percy, for a long time, even though blaming Percy hadn’t been fair. Sometime in his later teen years, Nico had slowly realized the people to blame were his parents, the adults who hadn’t had time to watch over their own children and make sure they were staying safe. They hadn’t even been staffing the estate properly at the time, cuts made to hide the fact they were having financial problems while they continued to throw lavish parties and take expensive vacations, leaving the kids almost completely unsupervised. Once Nico started blaming his parents, living with his grief became a little easier.

Hazel blamed herself, though, and that had created a wedge in their relationship. For years after, Hazel had distanced herself from Nico out of guilt, and Nico had isolated himself in response. In one afternoon, Nico had lost both of his sisters, and his sisters had been, more or less, all he’d had.

Finding each other again had taken a long time, but they’d managed it, eventually. Hazel had come back into his life for real just in time, something he would be eternally thankful to her for. That thankfulness meant he wasn’t going to snap at her for being worried about not getting this painting to her professor on time, even though it was her own fault she forgot to deliver it before she left and she shouldn’t be taking it out on him.

Also, he loved her, and always had, but he would never _say that_. Gross.

“I’m at your place,” he assured her, as he dug into his pockets for his keys. “I’ll send you a picture when I find it.”

“Just be careful with it,” she insisted.

Nico sighed loudly, mostly it could be heard over the phone. “I’m never doing anything for you again.”

“You’re so dramatic,” she complained, the eye roll he was sure she gave practically audible in her voice. They had the dramatics in common, Hazel just hid it better around most people.

“I’m hanging up,” he replied, slipping his key into the lock and turning. Part of him wanted to stay on the line to ask about how Jason was holding up, between eight hours on a plane with Piper and all the news that had been circulating about the Grace family after a very unflattering expose had aired the night before, but he decided Hazel was probably too distracted and tired to have that conversation. He’d call or text Jason himself later to get all that information.

Before he could pull the phone away from his ear, Hazel chimed, “Love you! You’re the best!”

“Yeah, yeah, you too,” he grumbled before hanging up. Okay, so maybe he could say it.

Blessedly, the air conditioning in the brownstone was on, and it hit him like a tidal wave as soon as he opened the door. He groaned in relief as he stepped inside, wishing he could just hide there for the rest of the day and not step outside again until long after the sun had set, like some kind of vampire. Unfortunately, as soon as he grabbed Hazel’s painting he’d have to run right off again to her professor’s office at NYU. Only after it had been safely delivered would he be able to head back home to once again be at peace in the cold. There was much too much _outside_ in his future for the middle of a summer heatwave.

He didn’t consider why the air conditioning would be on full blast when Hazel was half a world away, he just soaked in as much of the crisp, artificially cooled air as he could and started toward the back of the house, down the staircase into Hazel’s painting studio. He got as far as the dining room before he froze, not from the cold, but from the shock of finding another person in the kitchen. Despite Frank’s weeks of incessant complaining, Nico had completely forgotten one very important detail – Hazel had a new roommate.

It took several seconds to remember the guy’s name and who he was – Will Solace, Piper’s step-brother, staying with Hazel while searching for an apartment of his own – because Nico’s brain had short circuited. Will stood in the kitchen with a water bottle in hand, shaggy blonde hair damp and a mess, wearing nothing but a towel. Much too quickly, Nico’s eyes zeroed in on a stylized sun tattoo on Will’s chest, and then unwittingly trailed down the rest of his torso. 

Nico’s gaze lingered, taking in lightly defined abdominal muscles and the way that towel hung from Will’s hips. It shouldn’t have, but it did, and there was no escaping the fact. In the back of his mind Nico wished he could send Hazel an apology for the fact that he was, regretfully, about to die of embarrassment and would not be able to deliver her painting after all. In the forefront of his mind all he could think about were Will’s hip bones. 

The air conditioning was not strong enough.

“ _Oh_ ,” Will said, after what could have been a few seconds or a few years, based on how effectively Nico was processing anything, “you’re Hazel’s brother, right? She told me you had a key.”

_Use your words_. The voice in Nico’s head was not his own, it was Reyna’s. He was sixteen again, too scared to admit his own stupid crush, even to her, even though it wasn’t _on_ her.

Sixteen hadn’t been so long ago, but Nico had changed a lot in those four years. At twenty, he was marginally more confident, a tiny bit more social, and significantly happier. He had left his parents behind, and his bitterness with them. Mostly. His relationship with Hazel had never been better. Nico’s band, _Mythomagic_ , played almost every weekend now. Sure, most of those gigs were weddings or birthdays, where they played covers of Top 40 hits, but they were finally gaining a proper following for their actual music, too. Getting by had been rough, but thankfully he had his two best friends unconditional support to fall back on.

_So_ , he asked himself, this time in his own voice, _why are you acting like a tongue tied teenager_?

Because Will’s smile was broad and shining, an inexplicably warm and welcoming sight, making Nico’s insides begin to melt, and growing wider every second Nico continued to act like an absolute freak by not responding. Because Will’s eyes were a deep shade of blue, his widening smile making them crinkle at the corners as it reached them, like he was sharing some kind of inside joke with Nico, except Nico didn’t get the punch line. Because, also, Will was almost entirely naked, and he was hot – seriously hot, not dramatically muscular like a bodybuilder or athlete, but fit, with subtly defined muscles. And Nico could see them all.

“I wasn’t expecting anyone,” Will finally said, when Nico had let the silence drag on for far longer than would ever, under any circumstances, be socially acceptable. He reached down to place his hand on the fold holding his towel in place, securing it more effectively, and Nico followed the movement. Big mistake, since that meant he was once again staring at the very distinct line of Will’s hips.

A cat saved Nico from himself. His daze was broken when the small thing, just a kitten, started rubbing as hard as possible against his ankles. It was all gray, with wispy, fluffy fur, and it was doing its damnedest to leave its scent on every inch of Nico it could reach. “You have a cat?”

“No,” Will replied, laughing softly. “He’s Percy and Annabeth’s – or, well, kind of theirs and Piper’s. It’s complicated. Anyway, I’m just watching him while everyone’s in Rome.”

“Animals don’t usually like me,” Nico observed, his face scrunched as he watched the kitten do another loop around his ankles and then let out an indignant mew.

Will laughed again, louder this time, when the kitten mewed a second time. “That means he wants you to pick him up. Bob likes _everyone_.”

Nico tried to step away, but Bob the kitten just decided that was a signal Nico wanted to play and pounced his shoes. “I’m just here to grab a painting for Hazel,” he finally explained, both annoyed at the kitten making it impossible for him to walk and thankful for the distraction. “Sorry she didn’t tell you I was coming by, but I’ll be out of your hair in a minute.”

“He’s not going to let you go until you pick him up,” Will sing-songed, turning slowly to watch as Nico progressed past him in the kitchen toward the stairs, kitten still weaving dangerously between feet. “Seriously, he’ll trip you going down the stairs. It almost happened to me last night.”

For the sake of not being tripped down the stairs, Nico scooped the kitten up. Bob didn’t stay long in Nico’s arms, though, quickly clawing up his shirt to instead settle on his shoulder. The prick of claws through thin cotton fabric stung, but Nico didn’t let it show, ignoring the smirk on Will’s face as he finally descended into Hazel’s studio. How the kitten managed to stay on his shoulder while being jostled on the trip down the stairs, Nico had no idea.

Hazel’s studio was almost always a disaster zone. In the basement, little natural light illuminated the space, but Hazel had made up for it with plenty of bright, artificial lights. A desk in the corner was covered in clutter – loose sketches, paint sets, brushes, stacks of books, and probably a dozen other things Nico didn’t register in the moment. Walls and floor alike were splotched with paint, either spills or splashes from reckless brush use. At any given time, she had pieces in progress on all four of her easels. The only hint of organization came from the tubes of paint arranged on the back wall, coordinated first by paint type, and then in very careful rainbow gradients Nico assumed made finding the exact shade she wanted a simple task.

The wall nearest the stairs housed Hazel’s finished work in a massive wooden rack, filled with dozens of canvases. Most of them had been painted within the last two years since she’d moved to the city for school, but a few she’d brought with her from their house upstate out of sentimentality. One of those older works was what Nico had come for.

It didn’t take him long to find the canvas in question – a simple landscape of the lake on their family estate. Looking at it made his chest constrict. Hazel had painted the scene their senior year of high school, easily one of the best pieces she’d ever done, with the details of winter sunlight on the water making the oil paint come to life in a way that he didn’t think should have been possible. Melancholy, guilt, and anger captured in every brush stroke prevented Nico from using the word beautiful to describe it, but it was certainly stunning.

Nico remembered watching Hazel paint it over the course of their last winter break at home, the winter they both turned eighteen. Since Bianca’s death neither of them spent any time by the lake voluntarily, but that December Hazel went out with her portable easel and paints to sit and work. He watched her, never asking her about the decision, nor commenting on it. That was before they’d finally worked out the strain in their relationship, before Nico had admitted he knew Hazel had been the one to convince Bianca to swim in the lake. While he hadn’t blamed her, seeing Hazel go out there to paint the lake, of all things, had frustrated him. The lake that took their sister didn’t deserve to be immortalized on canvas.

Now he understood. Hazel had painted her pain. She’d painted his pain, too, somehow. 

On his shoulder, Bob nudged Nico’s face, rubbing against his cheek with the same enthusiasm as his ankles upstairs. Nico transferred the canvas to one of Hazel’s carrying cases and started back upstairs just as Bob started to purr. The cat was definitely weird.

“Find what you needed?” Will asked as Nico cleared the top of the stairs, still in the kitchen wearing nothing but a towel. Apparently the cat was not the only weird one in the house. Maybe Frank’s grumbling had been reasonable after all.

Lifting the case draped over his unoccupied shoulder, Nico nodded. “Yep. Sorry again for barging in.”

“No worries,” Will replied, his eyes dancing with mirth as he watched Bob continue to nuzzle against the side of Nico’s head like a maniac. “Did Hazel say anything about how everyone’s holding up, by the way?”

“She didn’t,” Nico answered, his concern for Jason renewing. He didn’t know much about Will, let alone about Will’s relationship with Piper, but wishing for some assurance Jason was okay compelled him to ask, “You haven’t heard anything from Piper yet?”

Will shook his head, his eyes momentarily growing distant – probably, he was entertaining very similar worries for Piper, at least in regards to the eight hour flight. “Nothing yet, but that does remind me of something.”

Instead of expounding on that statement, Will picked up his phone from the counter. Nico watched with brow furrowed as Will tapped a few times on the screen and then held the phone up. A second later the shutter sound signaling a picture had been taken rang across the small kitchen.

“Did you just take a picture of me?” Nico asked, his lips curling downward.

“Piper asked me for a picture of Bob every day,” Will replied, his distant expression morphing instantly back into a bright, wide smile. He motioned toward the kitten still sitting contentedly on Nico’s shoulder. “She’ll be happy to hear he’s making new friends already.”

“Great.” Nico took that as his cue to remove the cat from his shoulders, though Bob didn’t make it easy, trying to hold on desperately with claws extended and curled into Nico’s shirt. When Bob had been deposited on the floor, Nico raised his eyebrows at the strange, extremely attractive, mostly naked man grinning at him. “I’ll see myself out, then. Sorry again.”

Once again wearing the taunting expression that made Nico feel like he was missing the punch line of an inside joke, Will waved. “Feel free to come by any time. Nice seeing you!”

**Author's Note:**

> hello all! thank you so much for giving this lil fic a read. i wanted to give a heads up that updates to this fic will be VERY irregular, because they're going to depend on the passage of time in my main fic (apartment 305) and that's just... not consistent. i will try to give you an estimate of when to expect new chapters with every update. that said, and as things stand, chapter 2 should be coming march 29th! 💕


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